Matilda goes to university
by santana the strange
Summary: When Matilda finally goes to university, will she choose Princeton or Oxford, law or creative writing? What will it be like for her living away from her mother Jenny Honey either way?
1. Chapter 1

Matilda goes to university

'Mum,' Matilda began that day of her seventeenth birthday, 'may I go to university?' Matilda was a beautiful young lady, with long straight black hair, and deep inquisitive brown eyes. She was the smartest of her class, and always had been. Having studied English language and English literature at school she had been the top of every class and had passed every exam with flying colours. And now, the smart but shy student was wondering whether or not she would be good enough for university.

'Of course you may Matilda,' Jenny Honey said as she finished up the cooking of Matilda's favourite breakfast meal which was, of course, pancakes. 'In fact once you've finished up here you can begin to apply for it on the internet, I'm sure it's not too late,' she ended. Jenny Honey was the kindest adoptive mother a child could ever have. She delighted in everything about Matilda and had ever since they'd met twelve years ago when she was only five years old. Jenny had long, natural, blonde hair which she always wore in a ponytail and bright blue eyes which she always hid behind her spectacles.

'Thanks mum,' Matilda said, as she accepted her pancakes and drizzled honey all over them, not too much, after all too much was bad for her health, and her teeth.

'If you need any help filling in your form, do not hesitate to ask for some,' Matilda's mother asked to which the daughter nodded. Not that she'd need any help. 'I'll be teaching tomorrow so we've got the whole day together and I can help you,' Jenny finished to which Matilda smiled wide as she finished up her breakfast and turned to the presents her mother had bought for her. Some looked very big and some looked very small. Matilda would be grateful for the utmost love and care had been placed into each and every pick.

'I think I'll be okay,' she replied in a tone that said she was grateful for the offer, but that she could manage it all by herself without any trouble.

'Okay, time to open up your presents,' Jenny said and her beautiful daughter nodded as she made her way into the dining room and sat on the floor between her presents.

The biggest present had turned out to be a bookshelf that she was in desperate need for. Every week, every month, every year she seemed to purchase or borrow more and more books and she was quickly running out of space for them all. And she didn't like having her books put under the bed where she couldn't see them, and where they might feel neglected.

'Thanks mum,' Matilda said when all the presents had all been open. There were five books, some that she had already read through and some that she had not. The latter was always a tricky feat for as a child she had read many books, if not all she could lay her hands on. However her mother had kept her own romance novels from her. So this year to have a romance novel was good. She had always wondered about them, as other girls her age had been known to read them.

'That is not all yet,' mum said and Matilda's brow crinkled. But she had had so much spent on her already, surely there could not be even more presents? 'I have bought you a laptop and a printer all of your own, as I know full well how fond you are of writing.' As a child Matilda had been a fastidious reader so it came as a surprise to no one that she would become interested in writing. Again there was no surprise that she had become a very good writer. Her AS creative writing pieces were graded A's every time.

'Oh thank you so much mum,' Matilda cried jumping up to hug her mother tight, before accepting the two extra gifts.

'You have made me so proud with everything you have done, not only through your genius but what you have done for me. Nothing could make me more proud to see your name on a book someday. You deserve it my child.' Jenny was close to tears and so she helped her daughter set up the laptop so she could apply for university. It gave her something to do and distracted her from the tears threatening to spill. She could not have asked for a better daughter than Matilda. She felt as though Matilda was the daughter she could have had if she'd ever had a partner or even been married.

Yes Matilda could have been one of those children to ask why Jenny wouldn't marry or date men, but she was not. She was a sensitive child, who understood that between teaching classes and looking after Matilda, she didn't have time for dating.

_Maybe when she goes to university I will have time_ Jenny Honey spoke selflessly. She had devoted the past twelve or so years to the upbringing of Matilda; she needed some time to herself.

'Hey mum, where should I apply for?' the daughter in question asked, tearing Jenny from her own thoughts.

'You could go anywhere you wanted Matilda, Cambridge, Oxford, even Princeton.' The latter was suggested because Matilda too had studied law at college, and found it quite interesting.

'Do you think I could take a double at university? Creative writing and law?' Matilda asked and her mum nodded.

'You are most definitely bright enough to juggle both subjects, I only wish I'd had the chances that you've been given today,' she replied making Matilda hug her again, this time, tighter.

'I'll write a book for you mum,' she vowed as she made her way to the laptop and logged onto the website so as to apply for the universities. Could she take a double? Where did she want to go?


	2. Orientation

One year later

As Matilda stepped on to campus that morning she felt the nerves begin to kick in and she clutched her deep blue suitcase tightly to her chest, hoping to ease the panic she could feel building inside. She did not want to suffer from a panic attack, she was smarter than that. The other students would judge her on that alone, and she could not withstand such a thing. They would believe her stupid and she did not want them to see her like that. If they had any idea of her true blood line they would consider her like them too.

'Calm down Matilda, you'll be fine,' Lavender Brown spoke beside her, as she laid her hand comfortingly on her best friend's shoulder. 'It's gonna be okay, you've got me, remember. At least we have each other, some people don't even have that where they are now,' she reminded her and Matilda nodded.

'Of course, thank you Lavender.' Matilda had known Lavender since they were five years old, having met in Miss Honey's class they had become fast friends and had continued through the years together, even through college, studying English together.

Lavender was a beautiful black woman, with large circular retro spectacles and her hair in a single plait down her back, once upon a time it had been two plaits but she had grown out of such a style and had decided on the more grown up hairstyle for a woman. Lavender was almost as intelligent as Matilda, but it was not her brain that Matilda Honey loved the most about her friend. It was the kindness she exuded as well as her comforting deep brown eyes. Those eyes were the most beautiful pair that she had ever seen in her life.

'Now come on, let's go see where we'll be staying. I hear that the American's call this first week of university something like the Fresher's week. I guess it helps is to settle in or something, to meet new people,' Lavender commented and Matilda nodded. Must be.

Together they linked their arms and raced towards the campus. Princeton towered above them, like an old fashioned English castle. It was built beautifully, and in some part reminded her of the tale of Harry Potter that she had read, where the school, Hogwarts, was indeed a castle. It was so British in its appearance that it almost made Matilda homesick, almost made her long for her mother. But she didn't, she couldn't. Matilda had already decided that this was where she belonged.

Yes there were students passed out on the green, green grass of the university grounds and yes there seemed to be some couples making out a lot, but Matilda could sense this was where she needed to be. She couldn't wait to start her double lessons. English and Law had always been her favourite subjects. She'd learned to read as a young child, all by herself, and had found the love that a mere pen and paper could give a woman. Literature was her one love.

And as they raced through an open arch they found that there was a huge gathering of what looked like brand new students, standing in the huge open courtyard. The mere sight of it filled Matilda with both fear and adrenaline. There were so many smart brains here she just knew that she was going to find a lot of great friends. Princeton was a place where she would not be ashamed to be smart, not like she was expected. Princeton had been her dream since she had learned of it many years ago.

'For this year's Fresher week each of you Fresher men will be assigned what we like to call, a set of parents. The 'mothers',' the beautifully Hispanic male punctuated his point with air marks. 'The mothers will be there to show you around the campus, and to make sure that you fit in well. And the 'fathers' will be here to show you to every pub and club there is in New Jersey and for the British among you, they will inform you of our slang and the words we use for your usual household appliance and such.'

'He's pretty,' Lavender commented and Matilda looked at her, shocked. Lavender had never, and she meant never shown an interest in any male they'd ever met, so why this one, with that long black hair and Antonio Banderas' stance? She would never know the meaning of attraction; she feared it would be the one science she would never comprehend.

'Now,' the man continued, 'I will be handing out the list of names and the rooms of which you are allocated to, alongside which of the people here you will be sharing a dorm with,' he finished and Matilda decide that his Latino accent was actually annoying. She'd never heard it and realised that it was something she was just going to have to get used to many different things here.

And as she waited for the list to be handed out she spotted someone she thought she knew out of the corner of her eye. Somebody she had not seen in a very long time. The two of them had shared a womb together, but only one of them had been welcomed into their parents' hearts. They had never gotten along well, and Matilda had always been considered the smart one, and him the stupid one. So how was he here too? Or was it just hallucination?

'Just my imagination,' she decided shaking her head and when Lavender tore her eyes from the Banderas wannabe to give her a questioning look, Matilda only shook her head.

At least that was until she saw the name listed beneath hers: Michael Wormwood. The list had been arranged in date of birth, not alphabetical. And Matilda had been born five minutes after Michael had. She had been the twin not anticipated. She had not been found on her mother's pregnancy scans.


	3. Matilda Muses

What is he doing here? Matilda asked of herself as she walked in silence with Lavender to their dorm room. How had he gotten accepted to the same university as she had? At school all he had ever done was mess about and make a fool of himself; Matilda had never even seen him actually do any work in class or at home, well that was for the short time they had lived together. And the last that she'd heard about her birth family was that they were abroad hiding from the federal police, well that's what Mr. Wormwood, and she would no longer call him father, achieved when he decided to swindle people into buying poorly built and running cars.

Thankfully it seemed as though Lavender was in deep thoughts of her own and therefore did not ask Matilda what thoughts it was that consumed her own mind. Had she asked Matilda did not know how she would answer, she had not spoken a single word since she realised that her twin brother was indeed here.

Why was he here? It had never been Michael's dream to go to university, nor had he ever wanted to go to College back in England. What was he studying here at Princeton? Was he studying law to help out his father? No, Matilda decided a moment later. No, there was no way that he was bright enough to study Law, or even get into the course. So how had he gotten into the college here, that was what the American's called it wasn't it? Had his father paid a good amount on tuition?

Matilda wanted to laugh at that. She remembered what her father's opinion on books was. He had told her umpteen times whilst she'd still lived there, that books were good for nothings. He had even once ripped up one of her library books. He had always been so cruel to her and she had hated him for it, she wished that one day he would get his own just deserts. And Michael, Michael had been the daddy's boy, and Matilda had expected him to go into the family business, of swindling people. She definitely had not thought that he would have the skills and intelligence to go to University, let alone college. He had agreed with his father, taking his side when he'd railed at Matilda about her books. And now here he was at a University where he would be compelled to read or fail his course. Could he even read? Matilda wondered. She was not being cruel, but she knew that Michael had never shown any intelligence. At one point in her life Matilda had come to believe that the fable about siblings being complete opposites was true. Now she realised that, that was not so.

When Matilda reached the room she would be sharing with Lavender over the course of her stay here at Princeton, she was still deep in thought and it seemed that whatever her lifelong friend had had on her mind was now gone as she turned to Matilda and spoke.

'Wow this I a really nice room,' she voiced as she took a look around at the two single beds either side of the room. It was what they called a twin room; Matilda thought to herself and grimaced. Would everything be a harsh reminder that Michael was here and that her entire life would be turned upside down? What would happen if the Wormwoods decided to visit their perfect son here on campus? What would happen if they discovered that she was here? Would her birth mother be distant with her still? Or would she come to want to spend time with the only daughter she'd ever had?

As Matilda claimed the bed that Lavender was not seated on, she lay back and stared at the ceiling. What, how would she react if Mrs Wormwood wanted to be a mother to her? It would make a difference to the fact that all she'd wanted to do was play bingo and watch soap operas. But Matilda had always thought that perhaps it wouldn't make a difference. It was too late now, she had Miss. Honey, was Matilda Honey. She had never really been Wormwood; she just wasn't like them in any way. She didn't take after them in the fact that they would rather sit down and watch television as they ate, whereas Matilda preferred to have a nice family atmosphere, seated at a table with a woman who was actually a true mother to her. She could never even be made to like Mrs Wormwood, for who could like someone they had nothing in common with? It was very hard indeed.

Many a time since Matilda had met Miss Honey she had entertained the thought that she'd never been Wormwood; that she had been born from Miss Honey instead. After all she was like a miniature Jenny Honey. She loved to read, she loved to write and many of the other hobbies that her mother had in common with her, for example they both loved to back and cook in general.

Last time she'd seen her family she hadn't had anything in common with any of them, nothing to prove they were of blood family but their genes. Matilda didn't class them as her family, never had and never would. They didn't deserve such a title as family. They didn't deserve her as a daughter. If Michael had come to Princeton to learn law and become his father's lawyer she would become even better that he was, not hard to be, and she would fight against her father. She knew all of his secrets and had a power that none like her had before. Yes she hadn't used it in a long time, but if she was reunited with her family and berated again then she would probably use it, sub consciously. Her family had never understood the power she held and she was glad for the fact, they had never seen it coming and they never would if she ever had to use it again. On anybody.


	4. Matilda speaks with Michael

Matilda had barely begun unpacking when their came a knock on the door of the bedroom that she now shared with Lavender. They had been listening to music and half dancing as they'd unpacked all of their belongings into the wardrobes and chest of drawers there for them to use. Matilda had just set up her bookcase when this person knocked on the door. And there was something inside her that told her she knew exactly who had come calling at her door.

When Lavender moved to answer it she shook her head and, leaving the bookcase empty of her manhy books for the time being she made her way towards the door and looked out of the peep hole that the door had within it.

'What are you doing? Stop making out with the door,' Lavender chortled as she arranged all of her make-up precisely on her dressing table. That girl just never went anywhere without either the make-up or the dressing table, she always wanted or needed a mirror around her. Matilda pitied her for she was a woman who lacked self-esteem to the point where she had tricked herself into believing that she needed make-up to help her with her confidence. Matilda had never needed that, but then as the nerves kicked in she wished she had something, anything, perhaps even a stiff drink to help her fight the anxiety that kicked in, at knowing her flesh and blood fraternal twin.

'I am looking to see who's out there,' Matilda replied and when she saw the caller her heart almost stopped in fright. It really was as though she was staring into the eyes of a ghost. For so long they had been apart and now, now they were destined to meet again. Would he take her side in everything? Had he left the life of ignorance and come here to challenge himself to prove to her that he was worthy to be called twin brother? Matilda didn't know and so she did what she thought she would never in a million years ever do. She opened the door and invited Michael into her room.

'Brother,' Matilda greeted him as she left the door wide open and made her way to unpack her books, almost completely ignoring the fact that he was there. 'What do you want?' She asked as she began to arrange all of her Charles Dickens books and her Shakespeare books side by side, era by era.

'It really is you?' Michael asked, and when she looked up she saw that he had a goofy look on his face. She could never remember him having that look when they were growing up so he must have developed it in the years they had spent apart. 'With all the books and the hair, and Jesus, Matilda you really did grow up fast didn't you?' He asked and when she nodded furiously and turned back to the books Lavender approached the brother in question.

'_You _are a Wormwood? Michael Wormwood, the only son of the Wormwoods?' Lavender asked in disbelief and he must have nodded to affirm her keen observations for she continued. 'Wow that's very unexpected. You being here, having the grades, the intelligence to get into this college, university thing is very much unexpected. You were always a dunce at school Michael, how the hell did you get into Princeton?' Lavender rudely asked the question that had been on Matilda's mind ever since she had noticed him in the crowd earlier.

'I worked hard, intelligence isn't just something that you either have or you don't have Lavender, I worked my ass off to get into this college and I will not have anybody tell me I don't belong here. It has been years since we last saw each other, you know very little of the person that I have become in that time,' Michael spoke and Matilda realised that he was right. Lavender did not have the authority to judge him for they had not seen him in many years.

'What are you studying Mike?' Matilda asked as she placed the last of her Jane Austen books on the shelf and started on her newer more paranormally romantic novels.

'I have come to study law,' Mike announced and she realised that by the tone in his voice he seemed very proud of himself and as she inhaled for patience she scented two very different smells. One a feminine fruity smell, which was most likely Lavender's Japanese cherry blossom perfume and the other smelled like ink, graphite and sweat. Mike told truth for the smell he carried was one she was very well acquainted with, for it was the scent of intelligence. She would know for it was the stench that she let off.

'And why is that Mike?' She asked and her suspicions from earlier rose again. If he had come to train in law so that he could get his father out of some sticky situation he had landed himself in, she would not speak to him a moment later. Mr. Wormwood was destined to be imprisoned sooner or later, for he was a conman, a cheat and a liar, she didn't care what he had ever said to her as a child, learning was the only way she knew to make something of herself, not by swindling people out of their money.

The bond they had shared as infants must have still been strong for Mike knew what she spoke of, almost as though he had read her mind. Dangerous, for they were two different older people now and their minds were very private places.

'I know that father deserves to be caught, to go to jail and I know that you think I would help him out if he ever got caught because you still think I have no common sense and am only taking this degree to help father out when I become a lawyer. And that is where you are wrong sister, I have come to study to better myself so that I will not have to live as he does and when he gets caught I will do what you are planning to do, I will make sure that he ends up rotting in jail for life,' Mike spoke with such heated passion that Matilda didn't have to read his mind to know that her twin brother did not feel any kind of love for his father.

And just like that they grew closer, for the first time in their life.


End file.
